


Gardener

by jumbi



Series: Filling the Void [2]
Category: Super Paper Mario (Game)
Genre: F/M, They're both nerds, pregame, sick day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 17:31:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18974896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jumbi/pseuds/jumbi
Summary: blumiere sits with timpani while she recovers from a cold.





	Gardener

**Author's Note:**

> this short scene takes place in my larger comic story "filling the void". it sits between scenes 7 and 8 (in which timpani has a cold, and then in which blumiere and timpani discuss their childhoods).

Timpani sneezed. She blew her nose. Blumiere handed her another towel. She dug herself further under her blanket.

“What were these flowers you brought yesterday?” She finally managed to ask. She motioned at the jar sitting on her nightstand. Blumiere stared at them, head tilted thoughtfully.

“I do not know,” he finally said. He turned his gaze back to Timpani apologetically. “I just thought you might like them.”

Timpani smirked. She couldn’t hold the expression, though, and had to blow her nose again. “How am I supposed to know what they mean, if neither of us know what they are?”

Blumiere blinked. He frowned in confusion, put a claw to his mouth, and blinked again. Timpani leaned back against the pillow on her headboard. She let him flounder for a minute while she drank her tea.

“You said they bloom at night?” Timpani asked. He returned his attention to her.

“Yes,” he began, flapping Timpani’s used towel once. It came away clean. She loved his magic tricks. “They are a lovely white color.” He stared at her. “They made me think of you.”

Timpani dropped her face into her free hand. The boy had no tact at all. Perhaps the best part was that she knew he meant it completely earnestly. She took a minute to think of a response. Blumiere sat completely silent next to her. Motionless. Waiting. It used to unnerve her, but she understood better now.

“Well, maybe when I see them bloom tonight, I’ll think of you too,” she finally said, smiling. It was genuine enough. Blumiere lit up, relieved. He carefully took her empty mug, expertly avoiding her hand. He had only ever scratched her once, but he’d become so delicate…

“They are also a light source,” Blumiere continued. “We don’t need them, at the castle, but you humans seem to need a lot of light.” He glanced at the candle on her nightstand, but didn’t linger on it the way he did with most of her possessions. Timpani would be able to put it out soon anyhow- dawn had broken nearly half an hour ago.

“Do you know how much water and sun they need?” Timpani asked, just on the off chance. Blumiere shook his head. She figured. Maybe she could replant them in the garden and try out a few watering schedules.

“Ah,” Blumiere started, then went quiet. But the movement caught Timpani’s attention- he was fidgeting. Picking at his cast.

“What is it, Blue?” She prompted. Blumiere’s good ear twisted her way in curiosity at the name.

“I could… er, I could, you know… find a book about it… in the library…” He mumbled at the ground, his eyes still on her.

“Yeah, that could help,” she replied. “Good thinking.”

Blumiere frowned thoughtfully. “… Why are you calling me that?” He had gone back to his stone-like stillness, but was curled forward in the chair.

Timpani shrugged. “It’s shorter.”

“But it’s not my name.”

She blew her nose again. Blumiere immediately held out the refreshed towel. Timpani considered it, then swapped them out. “It’s a nickname.”

“A nickname?” Blumiere’s stare got a little intense, so Timpani motioned toward her candle. Blumiere jolted and turned toward the candle to blow it out. His eyes were left as the only source of light in the room, but it wasn’t dark enough to be spooky anymore. The break in his attention got him to sit up straighter again.

“Sometimes, when you are good friends with someone, you make up a new name for them,” she explained, folding and unfolding her towel absently. “It’s a name only you and your friends know, at first.”

“But what is the purpose?” Blumiere’s frown deepened into confusion.

Timpani bit her lip, then settled back against her pillow. “Does the name your parents give you always match who you are?”

Blue looked down toward the ground. When he didn’t respond after a minute, Timpani felt a tightness at her temples. She could have worded that better. Now he was sad, and she could have avoided that.

“Well…” She eyed the closed flowers. “If we don’t know what they’re called, then in general, did you know white flowers send a message of true, pure love?”

Blue didn’t move, but his ear twitched back in her direction, so she continued.

“I don’t know about you guys, but we humans like to communicate with flowers sometimes. You can send some pretty funny messages! There’s a lot of ways to say ‘I love you’ just with a bouquet. I mean, a group of flowers put together in a bunch.” She watched Blue’s mouth move; she was certain he was repeating the unfamiliar word to himself. He was paying attention, then. She blew her nose again. Best not to mention their other meaning. “White flowers represent a pure emotion. Love, by themselves, I think. I could teach you more, later, if you want. I’ve got a catalogue with pictures.”

Blue finally looked back up at her. She was so used to his staring that it was almost odd when he  _wasn’t_  watching her. She had realized only a month ago, with a twinge of almost-sadness, that the staring wasn’t a charming attempt to intimidate her or even an unconscious predator’s habit- he was trying to  _copy_  her. He was studying her. Even now, he had his hands folded on his lap the same way she always did, with her pinky hooked around to her other palm. Only, instead of the way she always moved and adjusted her fingers, he was eerily still.

“How do you know all this?” He finally asked.

Timpani considered her options. She couldn’t bear to watch his little heart break again. “I’ve always been growing things.” She paused to blow her nose. The noise startled Blue out of his thoughts, and he took the moment to refresh her old towel. “Mostly food, these days. I could show you the garden, in a few days, when I’m feeling better,” she offered.

Blue smiled. “I think I would like that.”


End file.
